SLEEPER: COLUMN-SHIFTED 10-SECOND HOLDEN HQ KINGSWOOD

“I BOUGHT this Holden HQ Kingswood four years ago from a deceased estate; the car had been sitting for 14 years with 86,000 miles on the clock and still with the logbooks and original number plates,” says Queenslander Bruce Woodward. “It had been painted for the former owner’s 80th birthday, and I was told she passed away six months later.”

Bruce has kept the car looking fairly stock, except for the addition of some Centre Line rims and a discreet reverse cowl bonnet scoop. Under the hood is an LS1, which retains its stock internals, but has been fitted with some CNC-ported standard 241 heads and a custom Comp hydraulic-roller cam. Wanting to stay with an old-school look, Bruce topped the engine with a Victor Jr intake and Holley four barrel EFI throttlebody. “The idle is a little aggressive,” says Bruce. “But I reckon it sounds great.”

Behind the LS1 is a column-sifted 4L60E automatic with a 4500 converter, and a brand-new 31-spline nine-inch with a 4.11-geared Strange nodular iron Truetrac centre.

“The interior has barely been touched,” says Bruce. “The only mods are fairly subtle, like adding a nitrous button to the original shifter knob and fitting the speedo in the GTS cluster with an Auto Meter digital display.”

With a 150hp shot of nitrous, the HQ has run a best of 10.50@132mph over the quarter mile and 6.51 at 108mph over the eighth mile. “Although the car has no roll cage, we can run as quick as 6.32-seconds on a day license over the eighth at Willowbank under IHRA regulations,” says Bruce.

“That means we can keep racing for now without having to fit a ‘cage, which is great. We got runner up in the Radial Rumble at the Kenda Radial meeting early in July. I’ve also entered in Powercruise and some other events. It is a great cruiser and has working air con for those hot days!”

“Thanks to my wife Sarah and the kids for putting up with me and the car, my dad for all his help, Geoff at TR Engines, and Performance Wholesale.”

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